Making (beautiful and legit!) holiday wreaths at the Market at Grelen

I love the holidays, and during a pandemic year, they felt even more precious and special. Light in the darkness, hope, peace… all of those things. Yet, of course, our traditional holiday activities were very limited in 2020. So when I stumbled on a wreath making class at The Market at Grelen that was outdoors and socially-distanced safe, I gathered some loved ones and went.

We had so much fun, and the wreath we made so precious and special, I hope that we find a way to continue this tradition every year!

In full disclosure: we did NOT take children with us. While The Market at Grelen is incredibly family-friendly, the process of making a wreath took focus and skill that teenagers may be interested in conquering, but smaller kids would likely not (of course, know thine own).

We bought our tickets to the workshop in advance, which was a must given as this sold out QUICKLY. And space is limited.

The Market at Grelen limits space for a good reason: the amount of beautiful, fresh greenery they bring to the workshop for participants to use and take home is overwhelming, abundant and generous. We were stunned by the amount of fresh foliage available to us. Worth the price tag, in our opinion.

We were provided large metal frames for our wreaths. After watching the teacher, and asking lots of questions, and receiving personalized hands-on help (apparently we were very demanding students), we created large bundles of fresh greenery. We placed one bundle at a time inside metal teeth, then used a special tool to bend the metal teeth to hold the greenery in. (See this tutorial on YouTube to get an idea for how this works. We were given a different tool than a clamp machine, but this is basically the process.) It took WORK, and we were heating up very fast despite the cold temperatures. After about two hours we had finished our wreaths, and it was remarkable how different they all looked!

The workshop leaders also taught us how to tie ribbons into beautiful bows we could add if we wanted; they provided spray to preserve the wreaths; and, gratefully, we were given all the hot coffee we wanted.

Since we were there for a girls day out and a crafting adventure, without kids, we took an hour post-wreath-creation to sit in the greenhouse and enjoy a glass of wine and a soup and sandwich lunch. The food at The Market at Grelen is delicious, and the grounds so lovely. There is a sense of magic and creativity that permeates the place.

I know that The Market at Grelen also has walking and hiking trails people love, pick your own opportunities (which you know we love!), a lovely store full of special items, and tons of plants and garden nursery items.

I look forward to bringing the whole family to this special spot soon but, in the meantime, treasure the holiday experience I was able to have with some other moms. While the wreath itself won’t keep forever, the memories certainly will.